A ‘Brexit’ Blow to the Establishment

Exclusive: British voters turned a deaf ear to scary warnings about leaving the E.U. and struck a blow against an out-of-touch, self-interested and incompetent Western Establishment, a message to the U.S., too, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

The United Kingdom’s “Brexit” vote may cause short-term economic pain and present long-term geopolitical risks, but it is a splash of ice water in the face of the West’s Establishment, which has grown more and more insular, elitist and unaccountable over recent decades.

The West’s powers-that-be, in both the United States and the European Union, too often display contempt for real democracy, maintaining only the façade of respecting the popular will, manipulating voters at election time with red-meat politics and empty promises – before getting back to the business of comforting the comfortable and letting the comfortable afflict the afflicted.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron talk at the G8 Summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, June 17, 2013. After the ‘Brexit’ vote, Cameron announced that he would resign.(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

That has been the grim and tiresome reality with America’s two parties and with the E.U.’s bureaucrats. The average American and the average European have every reason to see themselves as a lesser concern to the politicians and the pundits than the special interests which pay the money and call the tune.

In the stunning “Brexit” vote – with 52 percent wanting to abandon the 28-nation European Union – U.K. voters rejected the West’s politics-as-usual despite dire warnings about the downsides of leaving. They voted, in effect, to assert their own nationalistic needs and aspirations over a commitment to continental unity and its more universal goals.

But, in the vote, there was also a recognition that the West’s Establishment has grown corrupt and arrogant, routinely imposing on the people “experts” who claim to be neutral technocrats or objective scholars but whose pockets are lined with fat pay checks from “prestigious” think tanks funded by the Military-Industrial Complex or by lucrative revolving-door trips to investment banks on Wall Street or The City.

Despite the Establishment’s self-image as a “meritocracy,” its corrupted experts and haughty bureaucrats don’t even demonstrate basic competence anymore. They have led Europe and the United States into catastrophe after catastrophe, both economically and geopolitically. And, there is another troubling feature of this Establishment: its lack of accountability.

In the United States, the rewards and punishments have been turned upside-down, with the benighted politicians and pundits who pushed for the Iraq War in 2003 still dominating the government and the media, from Hillary Clinton’s impending Democratic presidential nomination to the editorial pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post.

And, the Iraq War disaster was not a one-off affair. The neocons and their liberal interventionist sidekicks have their fingerprints on other “regime change” messes, from Libya to Ukraine to Syria (still in the works), with their predictable recommendations for more violence and more belligerence. Yet, they have impunity for their crimes and incompetence. They fail up.

Establishment Doesn’t Know Best

So, the West’s Establishment can’t even argue that it knows best anymore, which always had been its ace in the hole. The various insurgents could be painted as the dangerous option – and that is sometimes true as we’ve seen with Donald Trump – but it is arguably a toss-up as to whether Clinton or Trump would be the bigger risk to the world’s future.

Billionaire and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Trump may be a blustering buffoon but he challenges the neocon “group thinks” about the wisdom of expanding the West’s war in Syria and launching a costly and existentially risky New Cold War against nuclear-armed Russia and China. Clinton surrounds herself with neocons and liberal hawks and shares their obsession with overthrowing the government of Syria and provoking Russia and China with military operations near their borders.

Trump and “Brexit” advocates also reject the Establishment’s neoliberal consensus on “free trade,” which has depressed (or eliminated) the wages of American and European workers while the benefits accrue mostly to financial and political elites. The Establishment’s embrace of the “winners” and its disdain for the “losers” have further enflamed today’s populism.

Yet, there are undeniably ugly features in the populist sentiment sweeping the U.S. and Europe. Some of it is driven by bigotry toward non-whites, especially immigrants. Some is inspired by wild conspiracy theories from a population that has understandably lost all faith in what it hears from Washington, Brussels and other capitals. Trump has espoused the scary know-nothing notion that the scientific evidence of global warming is “a hoax.”

There is always something unsettling when an incipient revolution takes shape and starts tearing down the old order. What follows is not always better.

In the end, the American election – like the “Brexit” referendum – may come down to whether voters feel more comfortable sticking with the status quo at least for a while longer or whether they want to blow up the Establishment and gamble on the consequences.

Right now, Clinton and the Democrats are carrying the banner of the Establishment, while Trump and his Republican insurgents fly the Jolly Roger. In a political year when the anti-establishment wave seems to be cresting, the Democrats may regret their choice of a legacy, status-quo candidate.

Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).

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75 comments for “A ‘Brexit’ Blow to the Establishment”

Pablo Escobar

June 25, 2016 at 9:14 pm

The CIA created the EU in order to easily control the continent. The Brits are lucky to be out of the hook – if the Brexit ever materializes. I bet that other US vassal states in the EU are going to follow suit if the Brexit really happens.
I am waiting for the invocation of Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty to see how other freedom fighters react in the remaining EU.

Dennis Nilsson

June 27, 2016 at 3:58 pm

The concept of a European superstate is not new. There have been several phases which have come and gone: Romans, Carolingians, the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon, etc etc. The Quaker, William Penn made a call for a European Parliament in 1693.

Churchill made a significant speech in Zurich on I9th September 1946 calling for “a united states of Europe”.

As an intelligence organisation, the CIA would have researched and briefed on the subject, particularly bearing in mind that one of the main conditions of the Marshall Plan to rebuild war-torn Europe insisted on European trade cooperation.

The Committee of European Economic Cooperation was founded at a conference in July 1948 and it prepared a report and presented it to the U.S. government on September 22 outlining a four-year program for economic recovery in the participating countries.

The Committee of European Economic Cooperation has been regarded as an instrument of foreign policy, but it was fundamentally an economic enterprise with the aim of pursuing specific economic tasks and to reaching specific economic goals.

For what it did, was to lay a firm basis from which the European nations could generate their own economic momentum and reach a point of self-sustaining economic growth.

From the outset, the EU is not a superstate. It is not now, and never has been, despite Jean Monnet being a committed federalist.

The Treaty objectives of the European Economic Community in 1957 were to establish a common market, increase stability and raise the standard of living and promote closer relations between member states.

From the outset, The Commission acted as a “think tank” to initiate legislation, but the council of minister representatives (one from each government) had final say. Washington did not set it up to have a firm hold over “it’s European empire”.

Hans Meyer

June 25, 2016 at 5:21 pm

Best article on Brexit I have read until now. Your conclusion sums it well. One thing that is never addressed is the political see pair of European nations faced to the corruption of the political body. Countries too weak like Greece, Portugal, Ireland are prevented any exit by force; while countries like England, France and ,well, Germany are manipulated into staying or ignored altogether (see sarkozy and France). There is no political left (being french, I can tell you that the so called Socialist party is a right wing joke) that could efficiently oppose the neo/liberals/conservatives. So the tendency of the european populations is to vote for any political body that will break the shackles of an Europe that is not what was promised to them (I think that saying that the Europeans are against a united Europe is not exact. Saying that they are fed up with anti-social policies and ridiculous economic concepts would be better).
I do not think that the English people turned ultranationalist Among the 52% that voted for the exit are certainly people that would most likely vote for the labor party rather than the extreme right. Sadly, the example that Brussels gave us with Portugal and Greece, showed us that playing by the rules is useless. So, people believe that ultranationalist parties are the way out in the short term to get back their rights, even if it implies putting into power people whose predecessors are known to be the most anti-democratic. What an irony!

J'hon Doe II

June 25, 2016 at 1:57 pm

Alas, the Landed Gentry had more political power than the mass of low wage workers/denizens in the Urban Jungle.

Where the Police State Rules.

This is the economic reality in a Still Colonized world

Abe

June 25, 2016 at 12:00 pm

As journalist Pepe Escobar noted in CounterPunch:

Brexit proved that it’s immigration, stupid. And once again, it’s the economy, stupid (although the British neoliberal establishment never paid attention). But serious bets can be made the EU system in Brussels won’t learn anything from the shock therapy – and won’t reform itself. There will be rationalizations that after all the UK was always classically whiny, obtrusive and demanding special privileges when dealing with the EU. As for “Western political civilization”, what will end – and this is a big thing — is the special transatlantic relationship between the US and the EU with Britain as an American Trojan Horse.

So of course this all goes monumentally beyond a mere match between a hopelessly miscalculating Cameron, now fallen on his sword, and the recklessly ambitious court jester Boris Johnson – a Donald Trump with better vocabulary and speech patterns.

The wayward child will be punished severely as a lesson for the other children of the family

J'hon Doe II

June 25, 2016 at 11:10 am

Spy vs. Spy is a wordless comic strip published in Mad magazine. It features two agents involved in espionage activities, one is dressed in white, and the other in black, but they are otherwise identical, and are particularly known for their long, rodent-like noses.

The pair are constantly at war with each other, using a variety of booby-traps to inflict harm on the other. The spies usually alternate between victory and defeat with each new strip. A metaphor for the Cold War, the strip was created by Cuban expatriate cartoonist Antonio Prohías, and debuted in Mad #60, dated January 1961. Spy vs. Spy is currently written and drawn by Peter Kuper.

The Spy vs. Spy characters have been featured in such media as video games and an animated television series, and in such merchandise as action figures and trading cards.
::
Current status / schedule Ongoing
Launch date Mad magazine #60 (Jan. 1961)
Publisher(s) DC Entertainment (Time Warner)
Genre(s) Political satire, Black comedy, Humor, Comedy

“Michael Hudson argues that military interventions in the Middle East created refugee streams to Europe that were in turn used by the anti-immigrant right to stir up xenophobia.”

Don Jacobson, Vancouver, WA, age 56

June 25, 2016 at 9:44 am

Wow! Hearing this is like a breath of fresh air – from the arctic.

So good to hear facts & the truth amid so much organized obfuscation, done in a writing style so crisp, engaging & thought-provoking.

I read many of Robert’s articles in prior years, but have not recently except as links at Common Dreams and similar sites.
I’m re-bookmarking this website, and plan to contribute in the future when I”m employed again.

Thanks, Robert, for being such a truth-speaker & freedom-defender. You are one of many modern heroes.

J'hon Doe II

June 25, 2016 at 10:39 am

Your words here are as music to the soul, Don Jacobson.

Geoffrey de Galles confirms it.

Gregory Kruse

June 25, 2016 at 9:33 am

One can only call the neo-cons and the liberal interventionists incompetent if their intention is to stabilize and justify the Middle East and Northern Africa. If it is to destabilize and subjugate the Muslim population outside the oil states in order to promote the security and hegemony of the Israeli state and neutralize the Palestinian population of Israel by deporting them to Jordan, then they have been very successful. I hope the sickening prospect of the latter intention has finally overcome the British people, who as a nation and erstwhile empire are largely responsible for the success of the inane and insane Zionist idea of Greater Israel.

J'hon Doe II

June 25, 2016 at 9:18 am

Brexit: A New World Order Humpty Dumpty
24.06.2016
By Phil Butler
(excerpt)

Before the #Brexit vote, Western mainstream media went bonkers. The corporate owned media outlets online did everything in their power to dissuade British voters from leaving a sinking EU. Today, as the pound and euro tumble, I examine the most flagrant warnings, and provide insight into what this vote really means.
Prime Minister David Cameron has been playing Chicken Little for months now. The British sky falling in, on already miserable pensioners and ordinary workers, it has been the droning drumbeat. In between the lines the real story of “why” western leadership wanted Britain in. Here’s a snapshot of western media revelations that show what the EU means to the EU and its allies.

The Status Quo Franchises

I’ll pull no punches here. The Economist is owned by the Cadbury, Rothschild, Schroder, and Agnelli families. Just before the #Brexit vote, this was the lead article proclaiming disaster if Britain left the EU. Tucked neatly inside this piece, is a major reason not discussed openly on the BBC etc.
“Brexit would deal a heavy blow to Europe, a continent already on the ropes. It would uncouple the world’s fifth-largest economy from its biggest market, and unmoor the fifth-largest defense spender from its allies.”

Subtle, isn’t it? Is someone making pounds sterling off weapons?

The texts tells us why the likes of the Rothschilds need Britain in the EU. Thwarting Vladimir Putin and Russian interests bears mightily. While most people know the Rothschild name, few identify with Cadbury and Schroders, and others running The Economist. For instance, Schroders management of corporate and private assets worth £324.9 billion pounds should be surprising. And the fact the Agnelli family that owns Italian investment company Exor, should cast any Economist piece in shadow.

In America, the Wall Street Journal pervades the economic news like some mystic, magnetic investor crystal ball. Down underneath though, it is NewsCorp boss Rupert Murdoch who pulls the investing evangelism strings. Yesterday the WSJ was still predicting #Brexit to fail, and for pretty obvious reasons. Market manipulation is a reality, remember.
“Oil prices climbed on Thursday as confidence over the U.K. remaining in the European Union grew and sent the dollar lower.”
Now who do you think hedged on this announcement? This is the only question that should matter. Whoever bought dollars and gold at the closing bell yesterday, that’s who. But America’s press cabal has been “all in” attempting to sway this #Brexit vote. A more pressing question is, “Why would anyone trust a financial newspaper that is wrong so often and so dramatically?”

I thought it was a well written article until you ended up by blaming the indigenous working class white population
who are at the forefront of the immigration battle. Jobs, hospital waiting lists, school overcrowding and rising house/rent costs due to overpopulation, let alone the cultural swamping issues.
The EU and the Elite in the UK are to blame and still don’t (on purpose ) get the real reason for the backlash but instead either ignore the outcry or just shout RACIST.
I would like one of these Elites to spend a year living in North London where I grew up with none of the privilige or protection they have, I don’t think they would last more than one day before they run back to their privileged safe life from where they tell the rest of us how to live, ignoring our outcry whilst calling us RACIST.

As Brexit has show ” ignore us at your peril”

Joe Tedesky

June 25, 2016 at 12:43 am

I’m waiting to see how this Brexit ‘leave’ vote gets framed in our American press. So far, it appears the American left, who some on the left are pointing to a certain kind of racism behind this Brit vote, are siding with the ‘remains’. Whereas, the right has Donald Trump siding with the ‘leaves’. Listen to our American media closely, and you tell me what framing you think is being done to sway our opinions. Plus, we will all need to wait and see how the British parliament votes on this Brexit. I personally would like to see an end to the EU. Let’s face it, the EU project has been hijacked, and has underperformed it’s mission to create a better Europe for every European. Like all other neo-fascist arrangements, it doesn’t include the average citizen. I’m hoping that between all of the various people movements occurring in different parts of the world, that this exit from the EU, is such the rebellion which could start a global people revolt. I should add, I wish this rebellion to be a peaceful one, but one which could de-escalate the world away from more wars. End NATO, close down U.S. Military bases, and let’s avoid WWIII. One thing that is certain, the New World Order has noticed you this time, no doubt about it, they know your out there!

Joe Tedesky

June 25, 2016 at 9:07 am

The more I read, and learn to what is going on with this Brexit, the more it seems to me, that this vote to leave the EU, is really a vote to leave NATO. After all if you are a European who feels the Middle East migrant is crowding your space, you would have to admit that NATO’s actions within that part of the world has been at the center of causing this mass exodus out of that troubled Mid-East war zone. Because of this what seems like an invasion of a whole other cultural background Europeans are finding it difficult to put up with. But for everyday Brits, and other average Europeans who are suffering from a bad economy this invasion may have more to do with paying taxes than having to do any objection with religion or skin color. All of these budget austerity programs have made the native Europeans restless. If only Europes one percent were to feel the same pain from this overcrowded condition which the nationalist public is feeling would they feel the same passion of doing something about it. With economies in decline, and budget cuts weighting heavily on the citizenry of each of Europes nations, this revolutionary vote is speaking in volumes to the elite, that we are not a happy people. So, NATO possibly should be the real target of concern, and that NATO should be included in the revolt, or possibly become the number one complaint of European and the American people’s focus of grievances. The whole thing is a fragile house of cards. Between an economy built on debt, and a military built from out of that debt, to a hegemony machine who wishes to colonize the whole world, well resentment is what you get. Nations must build themselves up by having a real productive society, not a consumer society barely getting by from month to month. You wouldn’t have unwanted refugees if you hadn’t of bombed their countries back into the stone age. Why, is this so hard to figure out?

Joe Tedesky

June 25, 2016 at 10:07 am

This whole argument the Brits and other Europeans have about the unwanted migrant should have never become such a racial issue, but instead a humanitarian one. I’m not all that familiar with England’s problem, but when here in America a conservative such as Donald Trump denounces NATO well that shows you how lame the American left has become. This NATO complaint should have been on Bernie, or Hillary’s plate, but it wasn’t , and still probably isn’t. I’m sure that there are plenty of reasons why the average European doesn’t like be amongst the other EU members, but I ask you, is their problem more of a NATO caused ill, than a EU one? Maybe, but none the less NATO is the one dropping the bombs on the countries in the Middle East. I also find it a curious thing that both the headquarters for the EU and NATO is located in Brussels. Probably doesn’t mean much, but then again who eats lunch with each other could matter, I guess.

Do I detect a certain political correctness here with the accusation that Trump is a buffoon? Can we give him credit for being the only candidate in years who has not said Russia is the no. one enemy? Hillary, on the other hand, has promised a no-go zone in Syria, where Russia houses some spiffy S-400s that can easily take down any plane foolish enough to heed Hillary. Let’s give the Donald some respect. Based on what he has said, he might save the planet. Based on what Hillary says, she might very well take it down with a nuclear war. She obviously doesn’t care about anything but making a quick buck off of occupying the White House.

Yeah of course…because the stock market crash of ’29 led to…oh, NOT worldwide depression and the worst war, but just a little grumbling from the spoil sports and some great movies! Oh that Fred Astaire made all the suicides and abandoned children MORE than worthwhile. And the effect on Germany! They needed a new chancellor…fresh ideas!

Bill Bodden

June 24, 2016 at 9:57 pm

One of many questions related to Brexit is prompted by European autocrats and their resulting umbrage is, “Will the European Establishment be to Britain what the American Establishment was to Occupy Wall Street?” Fortunately for Britain it is more powerful and the Brits who took a hike because of the abusive authoritarianism of bureaucrats in Brussels have several compatriots with similar sentiments in other parts of Europe. “EU parliament leader: we want Britain out as soon as possible: President Martin Schulz says speeding up of UK exit being considered after ‘continent taken hostage because of Tory party fight’” – http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/24/top-eu-leader-we-want-britain-out-as-soon-as-possible

rexw

June 24, 2016 at 9:57 pm

The inputs from those other foreign national leaders who saw it as necessary to make a comment supporting “remain”, together with all the “conservative” Prime Ministers, contributed to the final vote count. Of that there is no doubt.

Such people just weren’t able to understand that it was not only about leaving the out-of-date and expensive EU, which has achieved little, but about Britain itself, the ‘us and them’ component, the class struggle. Unwanted outside inputs gave the people additional impetus to leave what one can only say was an organisation that serves little purpose because of the distinct inequality within the nations. The power held by Germany as opposed to Greece, Italy and all the smaller nations, all of whom gain little from the amalgum, indicates a lot more disruption to come. The EU is a US-manipulated German / France convenience, nothing more. They are the beneficiaries. As they say, follow the money.

What then are the similarities with Germany and Cyprus, or Malta, (potential NATO bases). The fact that the EU has survived this long astounds me. An amorphus collection of dissimilar countries, all joined together in a building in Brussels. At great cost, “The European Social Club”.

As for the comments from Obama. These were seen by many as a motivation to breakaway from a great big mass of countries, which, as they are structured now are easily “controlled” by the USA, not through economic influence but through their US-owned NATO war machine. This is seen to be serving little purpose but seriously contributing to the imminent war climate through the unjustified missile bases surrounding Russia. Don’t disregard the NATO component too lightly. Many British voters saw it and still see it for what it is, fortunately for the future of the planet.
It is an anachronism.

It is not the US “pivot into Asia” that will light the fuse for WW III, but NATO’s need to have wars forever, purely to justify their existence. In Britain, examples of this climate are everywhere as they are in Europe, costing multi billions of pounds every year. The beneficiary? The US military / industrial complex.

I told my UK friends today that they have only taken the first step. The next one must be exiting NATO.

rhys

June 25, 2016 at 2:58 am

Well done, Don. It is an anachronism and a dangerous one at that.

historicus

June 24, 2016 at 9:22 pm

One doesn’t have to be a racist to feel that people of alien cultures are stealing one’s country from them. It is a propaganda choice to call these concerns racism rather than cultural defense. The UK political establishment has made that propaganda choice, and the British people made theirs.

Or perhaps Britons were dreaming of when their country was “Great” Britain, before John Bull became Uncle Sam’s manservant, before “the white man’s burden” was recognized for the evil it was.

In any event opposition to Brexit is based on the interests of the New York banks and Wall Street to eliminate the UK as a financial center competitor. The UK does not use the Euro and, thus, retains the power to finance the British government. Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, etc., do not have this capability and are dependent on private banks for financing, and Wall Street is always hungry for new hogs to slaughter.

Interestingly, “Great” Britain’s fall from world power was the direct result of the second war she declared against Germany. In 1953 Winston Churchill candidly admitted to conservative MP Lord Robert Boothby, “Germany’s most unforgivable crime before the Second World War was her attempt to extricate her economic power from the world’s trading system and to create her own exchange mechanism which would deny world finance its opportunity to profit.”

The names change but the game plays on.

F. G. Sanford

June 24, 2016 at 9:05 pm

Rumors are flying around, And they’re raising all heck with the Pound!
Fox news added to it when they really blew it, Headlining, “Brits voted UN status down!”

David C. gave a real weepy speech. He got quite a kick in the breech,
“It was my bright idea, now I’ve got diarrhea, And the voters must think I’m a leech!”

Cameron is clearly in crisis- Claiming Brexit serves Russia and ISIS,
But Michael McFaul is most worried of all, He says, “Putin planned this just to slice us!”

George Soros had a ‘put’ on Pounds Sterling, And that jowly old bustard keeps squirreling,
He’s got loot put away to fund CIA, So their next evil plan is unfurling!

Donald Tusk predicts plagues and privation: “It could wreck Western Civilization!”
But Brussels won’t learn from this serious turn, Citing need for more ethnic migration!

Nato could even collapse. The Germans would toast with a schnapps!
Those practical Prussians have no fear of Russians- But they think that the Belgians are saps!

Spain is real pleased, you can’t fault her, Retrocession is dreamed for Gibraltar,
If Great Britain leaves then China believes, “We’ll devalue the Yen and default her!”

The Chinese exclaim, “Hey we win. The tech sector’s in quite a spin.
If Ukraine still is tore up, we exploit Eastern Europe, It’s a cinch,” remarked Mr. Weiwen!

Blue collar votes bumped up the numbers- They’ve lost jobs to Romanian plumbers.
ECB and The City treat them…(without pity), Laissez-faire writes them off as cucumbers!

Banks will feign Sterling depression, And blame it on Russian aggression.
Currency games are their deceptive aims, They’ll sell hedge bets on global recession!

When asked about fallout from Brexit, And Malvinas’ desire to exit,
One Tory just blushed, then replied with words hushed-
“I take little blue pills that erexit!”

Fred

June 25, 2016 at 12:22 am

Hahaha. Love it. Very good!

Knomore

June 25, 2016 at 8:18 am

This is great! Very clever.

Gregory Kruse

June 25, 2016 at 10:29 am

Well worth this month’s contribution to Consortium News, but I don’t think “collapse” rhymes with “schnapps”, unless you pronounce “collapse” as “collopse”.

TruthTime

June 24, 2016 at 7:34 pm

Remember when Iceland ripped up their EU application, didn’t become a vassal of the U.S., and arrested Bankers?

Lot’s thought Iceland would be doomed for doing those things, but Iceland recovered precisely because they made the CORRECT decision. And those that thought Iceland would become defunct were wrong. Turns out arresting bankers and nationalizing them is exactly how you fix the disasterous economies instead of bailing out banks.

The EU is run by unelected officials that also is connected with NATO, the Imperialistic Confederation causing the most bloodshed in the world today, with a Central Bank in cahoots with IMF that believes to fix economies do the following:

– Bail out Banks, Not people
– Austerity measures to rob countries blind and fill the pockets of the Elite

The EU corrupted Elite only have themselves to blame. They created the mess along with their overlords in Washington.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: [..] We adopted a law after the Savings and Loan crisis, called the Prompt Corrective Action Law. And it requires them to close these institutions. And they’re refusing to obey the law.

BILL MOYERS: In other words, [Paulson & Geithner] could have closed these banks [in 2009] without nationalizing them?

WKB: Well, you do a receivership. No one — Ronald Reagan did receiverships. Nobody called it nationalization.

“The referendum is perhaps the one chance that this generation will ever have to vote on our membership of an institution which now wields an inordinate amount of power. It is the only opportunity we will be given to affirm our democratic right to rule on the fundamental questions with which we are confronted, and at the same time administer a blow to the undemocratic vision of a corporate Europe, rooted in neoliberal economics and a disdain for workers, that has crushed underfoot the aspirations of so many Europeans who were never even offered the choice of agreeing to such a project. A vote to leave will not usher in an age of socialist egalitarianism, but it is nonetheless, as socialists agitating for Brexit have observed, a necessary steppingstone without which the fairer society we are striving to achieve will be rendered a more distant prospect.”

“The public good before private advantage.” TP
As Usual,
EA

sam

June 24, 2016 at 5:48 pm

Bob & Knomore-Spot on!!!
MSM has been silent on this, but the BBC weighed in w/ a great analysis last night-maps of voting outcomes demonstrated, in no uncertain terms, that income was an excellent predictor or vote…those who have lost out from all those “amazing” trade deals that grew economies of the few, at the expense of the many, those who have lost out have pushed back.

Knomore

June 25, 2016 at 12:49 am

Here is something I copied from Mike Adams (The Health Ranger) from his view on Brexit.

“My original prediction, however, is one that I’d be thrilled to be wrong about. And if it turns out that a BREXIT win holds, then it’s a powerful, stunning moment for the raw power of citizens to overturn the stranglehold of corrupt government regimes. It also means that globalists are absolutely panicked about the fact that they’re losing control over the masses… (holy crap, that’s just never happened to them, EVER, in human history… they have no idea what to do if the sheeple start waking up and revolting).”

My thought: When the sheeple start waking up and revolting, they double down on election fraud.

nello

June 25, 2016 at 12:24 pm

What if they decided – their media can do this and more – to turn half the sheeple into racist islamophobes who will take over their countries in Neo-Fascist regimes that, when things start turning REALLY bad, will be much better tools for squashing resistance violently than the present “nice” governments (and the not quite so “nice” but formally “democratic” European Union)?

Bill Bodden

June 24, 2016 at 5:28 pm

The West’s powers-that-be, in both the United States and the European Union, too often display contempt for real democracy, …

The autocratic abuse of Greece by the European troika and imposition of austerity on Greece and other nations in the European Union should have persuaded more than 52 percent of British voters to get the hell out of Brussels.

Pablo Diablo

June 24, 2016 at 5:05 pm

Now if we could just vote both Hillary and THE Donald out, we could start down a new road.
Thank you Robert Parry.

Bill Bodden

June 24, 2016 at 5:18 pm

But we can vote “none of the above” to send a message. It won’t have any effect on the plutocrats and oligarchs and their main agent in the White House as they undertake another four-year looting spree, but it will get the message out to the people who are hostile to the ruling classes that dissent is still a factor and they are not alone..

Brad Benson

June 24, 2016 at 5:02 pm

No question in my mind as to who is the best candidate in the race, when one is a practiced WAR CRIMINAL and the other has killed no one. Anyone but Hillary 2016! Right now that looks like Trump.

J'hon Doe II

June 25, 2016 at 9:44 am

Brad, Mr. Trump’s personality is that of an egomaniacal swindler. He would be the perfect Knight in the hands of the World Order Bankers, dismantling all surviving “regulations” and cementing the City of London/Wall St. “casino” regime of neoliberal warfare against The People (worldwide). (Not that I approve of Ms. Clinton either)

Simple, well written and all too true. You could have added even more bluntly that todays world is racist and that non-white immigrants, especially Muslims, are no more than “guest workers”, as Germany calls them. They should be warned they will never be allowed to fully integrate and their loyalty will always come into question. Brexit, along with Trump, have made this pretty clear.

Knomore

June 24, 2016 at 4:10 pm

Brexit is a “splash of ice water in the face of the Establishment… in the business of comforting the comfortable and letting the comfortable afflict the afflicted.” Great line that captures so succinctly the reason Why.

It’s so much easier to rail against the crude speech and egotistical ravings of a Donald Trump than try to understand Why. There will be rantings and ravings about how dangerous this move is, and the insular elites will do everything in their power to make those happenings happen because their first instinct will be to maintain their isolation and their privileges. But those characteristics are major flaws. They have weakened themselves and just maybe they’ve now gone too far. Maybe the visible fraud in this election cycle has permanently opened too many people’s eyes — not to mention, the many lies about the vicious, pointless wars in the Middle East, in which for all our talk about democracy, freedom and open elections, the Syrian people have none and now are homeless in huge numbers. No accountability. May more and more people quickly awaken to how ugly and unnecessary this all is. May we hope!

And hope that the rest of Europe quickly sees what the EU is really all about, that it has helped to unleash NATO on the world, an asynchronous organization that has metastasized beyond all meaning and threatens to destroy the world much faster than global warming. Let’s hope that the rest of Europe soon falls, like a bunch of dominoes, toward Britain.

Sam

June 24, 2016 at 3:52 pm

It has become far too easy to win elections by dividing people in us vs. them camps and promising to build walls and blame immigrants for all the ills in society. I don’t think many Brexit voters were rejecting the military industrial complex. They were voting to shut down their borders and block Polish immigrants and Syrian refugees.

I had read predictions before the vote that the UK wasn’t going to leave the EU. Either the result would be “stay”, or they’d ignore the vote. As your link says, there is a tradition for forcing new votes until they get what they want.

“This has to go down as one of the largest pieces of small print in British political history.

“The overwhelming majority of the British public is probably totally unaware of this legislative loophole. As far as most Brits understand, Britain will no longer be an EU member if Leave wins next week’s referendum.

“Interestingly, parliament choosing to ignore the British public isn’t as unthinkable as conventional wisdom leads us to believe. In fact, according to the BBC [link], MPs have already discussed the possibility.” [6/14/16]

Anon

June 24, 2016 at 7:33 pm

The Campaign To Undermine The Vote
By Richie Allen, Radio Presenter, Manchester
[..]
Cameron said in his farewell address, that is important that the will of the people be accepted and that the British government should move quickly. He said that article 50 of The Lisbon treaty, should be triggered ASAP. That sounded good. Cameron had said while campaigning, that in the event Vote Remain lost, there would be no delay in informing Brussels of the UK’s intention to leave and to begin a period of negotiation over the UK’s future relationship with the union. That’s what he said then and that’s what he said today.

But I am worried. This afternoon, former mayor of London Boris Johnson and current justice secretary Michael Gove, the leading lights in the Vote Leave team, said there was no rush to invoke article 50. “There is no need for haste,” Johnson said. “As the Prime Minister has just said, nothing will change over the short term except that work will have to begin on how to give effect to the will of the people and to extricate this country from the supranational system.”

But that’s not what the prime minister said is it? Johnson went on to say he foresaw meetings with leaders of EU member states in advance of invoking article 50 and serving notice Britain would leave. This is very alarming. Meeting with EU officials before triggering Article 50? Why?
[..]

(PCR speculates further about how things might unfold in a few other pieces onsite.)

Wendi

June 24, 2016 at 2:07 pm

Best (agreeing with me) words and tone of observation I’ve seen yet over this thing. Robert Parry perfect. I’ll think what he’s thinking. Magnificent points.

My word wits went tangent into a cul-de-sac failing to think of a joke about this world (our substance) made of clay becoming baked so brittle by ‘the heat of a thousand Suns’ until, as every shard seller says, “you Brexit, you bought it.” Failing because nobody thinks ceramics is a laughing matter.

Thank you friend Robert

J'hon Doe II

June 24, 2016 at 1:56 pm

Europe’s right wingers (bigots) are rejoicing.
Nationalism Now Trending in Europe.
Authoritarianism the wave of the near future.

J’hon Doe II… that is the one thing that I have found particularly disturbing in the world, not just Europe, today. There seems to be so much hate and even acceptance of it. Look at Donald Trump’s popularity and many of the people backing him along with Farage and Le Pen etc. Even look at seemingly western acceptance of jihadists to Neo-Nazis as being the lesser of evils in country after country. I sometimes think that if God and Jesus do exist then what are they waiting for? Or maybe mankind is doing such a great job at destroying itself and the world that it lives on that there is no point. The hatred in the world is quite appalling and I think it is being largely fuelled by our governments along with the mainstream media. I mean you cannot say “terrorist”, “terrorism” etc. everyday for 15+ years and not have a dramatic effect – the politics of fear.

Yes, it is socially acceptable to call Trump hateful. But no one EVER provides supporting details.

Joe Tedesky

June 25, 2016 at 1:21 am

Joe L. this Brexit matter which should have been a good issue for the left looks as though, at least in the States here, is going to be an issue for the right. Reference Donald Trump in support of leaving the EU. We should also mention how Trump has made disparaging statements against U.S. involvement in NATO. I thought way back in 2010 that the Teaparty stool a few of America’s left leaning issues such as the economy, and observation of the Constitution which the Teaparty picked up on. I guess no one has a monopoly on any of these particular issues, but I find it surprising how the left fails, while the right triumphs on certain issues which need supported. Do you think it has anything to do with the way these type things get reported? Why wouldn’t the American left support breaking up the EU, especially after watching what happened to Greece? Why is it a loud mouthed Republican presidential candidate is the only one advocating a departure away from our sacred commitment to NATO? People would think your crazy to believe that all of this is being performed for us, using one big script, so as too sway our opinion in the preferred direction the NWO desires…nuh, that couldn’t happen, could it?

The people of the United Kingdom have exercised the sacred right of all free peoples. They have declared their independence from the European Union and have voted to reassert control over their own politics, borders and economy. A Trump Administration pledges to strengthen our ties with a free and independent Britain, deepening our bonds in commerce, culture and mutual defense. The whole world is more peaceful and stable when our two countries – and our two peoples – are united together, as they will be under a Trump Administration.

Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today’s rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people. I hope America is watching, it will soon be time to believe in America again.

Yes, it is trendy and safe to call Geert Wilders, Marine LePen and Donald Trump dangerous rightwingers. Yet no one ever provides any details or facts to support this. Are we taking our cue from the msm? I subscribe to LePen’s Font National newsletter and Geert Wilders’ PVV newsletter and read them in the respective languages. I have listened to as many of Trump’s speeches as I could find on YouTube, and yes, I will admit he lacked finesse when he said he would want to keep out Muslims (instead of referring to them as visa “applicants from terror exporting countries”), but that is not the telltale sign of a Hitler, who schmoozed with the Grand Mufti and persuaded friendly Muslims in Yugoslavia to kill Jews there. By contrast, Trump has addressed AIPAC, LePen has sent an emissary to Israel to make friends, and Wilders is frankly pro-Israel. I have been looking for years now for supporting evidence of how dangerous and Hilter-like these three are. If anyone reading this has such details, kindly post them.

Jerad

June 25, 2016 at 12:34 am

You are entirely correcty. Many people call Trump racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, hateful, etc., but more and more people are starting to realize that these are merely subjective labels which the left will slap onto anyone who dares to counter their political dogmas. The reality is that Trump has not really attacked any particular race.

Islam is not a race. Islam is a culture, religion, and political ideology all rolled into one. It is perfectly reasonable to be against a religion or an ideology if you deem it to be counter to your own beliefs. God knows that most leftists don’t see any problem with insulting and being opposed to Christianity.

Likewise, it is not racist to say that a nation should enforce its borders. Leftists know that it would not go over well if they just came out and said that they are for open borders, so instead they have to demonize the opposition by calling them racist and xenophobic. If anything, it is the left in general which is suffering from the opposite extreme, that is xenophilia.

Rikhard Ravindra Tanskanen

June 25, 2016 at 6:21 pm

Xenophilia? What right-wing rubbish.

J'hon Doe II

June 25, 2016 at 8:55 am

Don Hank –“LePen has sent an emissary to Israel to make friends, and Wilders is frankly pro-Israel.”

A military affairs commentator interrupts his broadcast to deliver a monologue: I’m alarmed by what’s happening in Israel, he says, I think my children should leave.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak warns of “the seeds of fascism”. Moshe Arens, who served as defense minister three times, sees it as a turning point in Israeli politics and expects it to cause a “political earthquake”.

The past five days have produced tumult in Israeli politics, since conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unexpectedly turned his back on a deal to bring the center-left into his coalition and instead joined hands with far-right nationalist Avigdor Lieberman, one of his most virulent critics.

Lieberman, a West Bank settler, wants to be defense minister. So on Friday, Netanyahu’s former ally and confidant, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, resigned and quit Netanyahu’s Likud party in disgust.

After a weekend to digest the developments, which are expected to be finalised in an agreement between Netanyahu and Lieberman on Monday to form the most right-wing government in Israel’s 68-year-old history, commentators have tried to put it in perspective and found themselves alarmed.

Letter Warning Of Zionist Facism In Israel
Letter That Albert Einstein Sent to the New York Times
1948, Protesting the Visit of Menachem Begin
11-1-4

Letters to the Editor
New York Times
December 4, 1948

TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine.

The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States. Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughoutthe world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents.

True, he would supporting someone whose foreign policy he disagrees with – he actually has far more in common when it comes to foreign policy with Trump – the differences are Trump advocating killing the innocent families of Islamic State fighters and saying if the U.S had to go to Iraq in 2003,
a war which he turned against from what I’ve heard

(I was a kid at the time), they should have stolen the oil.

J'hon Doe II

June 27, 2016 at 11:25 am

Rikhard Ravindra Tanskanen>> (in 2003), “I was a kid at the time”

You’ve obviously got a lot of knowledge/history to catch up on… .

Joe L.

June 24, 2016 at 1:56 pm

I admit that I was pretty surprised last night that the UK decided to Brexit. Then my mind started spinning about what the fallout will be. I think, at least for the short term, that the UK will feel a little pain but I really don’t know what it will do in the long term. If the UK comes out of the Brexit even stronger then it has to have other EU countries, especially those that are struggling, thinking about leaving the EU – Greece comes to mind (PIGS). Also, the Brexit is going to be a major blow to the EU itself, politically and economically – so it also made me wonder if this might cause the EU to soften its’ stance on Russia since sanctions not only hurt Russia but also the EU economy which seems to be a double blow with the Brexit. Anyway, it should be interesting to see what the fallout of all of this will be. Though I am kind of tickled that it seems that the people kind of stuck it to the establishment.

“Though I am kind of tickled that it seems that the people kind of stuck it to the establishment.”

Me too. Obamaco thought they could fly into Britain and tell those people what to do ? Big Mistake.
The English resent “Americans” audacity.
It’s no surprise Obamaco didn’t figure this out

Kiza

June 25, 2016 at 6:12 am

Sorry Joe L, but you got that idea of who is imposing sanctions on Russia wrong. It is the US which is forcing EU countries into anti-Russia sanctions. There are some anti-Russian elements in EU but they are a tiny minority, for example the Nazis and the Nationalists in the Baltics, the Polish Nationalists, an odd German and, of course, many in the British establishment are against Russia, but the majority of Europeans are totally neutral. The annual bilateral trade between Russia and EU would not have been built to $440B before the sanctions if the Europeans were anti-Russian. Then the US conducted a coup in Ukraine, forced Russia to save its Black Sea navy base from being overtaken by NATO and finally MH-17 shot-down followed by dollops of the nastiest and stupidest anti-Russian propaganda as the last push to get sanctions introduced. On top, in most EU countries the leadership is under the US thumb, possibly because the NSA has plenty of material on them. I have heard from numerous people who travelled to Germany that German businessmen are spewing fire about the sanctions. Even Poland, the most anti-Russian country in the EU, would get rid of the sanctions tomorrow if the US overlords allowed it.

Finally, Brexit will never happen because whenever similar referenda in the past were conducted (e.g. in Ireland), they kept repeating them until they could steal enough votes to declare the “correct” result. Democracy cannot be allowed to produce the wrong result.

In short, nothing will change, nothing. Brexit is a nice water-cooler discussion subject, to avoid talking about weather all the time.

Oh, BTW, since the anti-Russia sanctions have been introduced, the EU-Russia bilateral trade has almost halved, but the US-Russia bilateral trade has increased.

Kiza

June 25, 2016 at 11:58 am

You may find the following blog about the German (and Italian) relationship to Russia interesting: http://johnhelmer.net/?p=15929. Merkel, the US agent rejecting the removal of sanctions and supporting escalation of the military confrontation with Russia is being circumvented by the German establishment. She appears a politically dead women walking, her power-base withering away. Therefore, the Europeans are trying to circumvent the US pressure on them re. Russia.

Peter Loeb

June 25, 2016 at 9:17 am

HERE! HERE! FOR ROBERT PARRY

Thanks for your article “A ‘Brexit’ Blow to the Establishment”.

It seems to me that England/ UK have had tensions with
“the Continent” for hundreds and hundreds of years
Since the year 1066 and perhaps before (The Norman
Conquest).

Someone for the FINANCIAL TIMES pointed out to a
National Public Radio interviewer that originally the UK was
one of 7 nations in the EU. It was a large nation and clearly
among the major powers in that union. Today
there are 28 members of the EU. I presume many are
the result of US pressures either in weapons deals (eg Turkey)
or in the US’s push to surround Russia with more and
more EU nations up to Russia’s borders. Some of the nations
with all due respect are as small as Malta. So many of
the citizens of the UK began to feel rather small,

In the response to Brexit, President Obama mentioned the
strong security needs which bring the US and the UK
close in NATO thus conflating —and attempting to avoid
confronting—the role of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Not incidentally, it is NATO which has become the US’s
military throughout the entire world from Afghanistan to Russia
and the US and its weapons industrial complex control
NATO completely, The current commander of NATO is
from a nation which is not a member of the EU (Norway)
but who nonetheless issued a statement promoting the
UK’s commitment to European security as though
he were a member of the US government. It was so
odd that even the public radio interviewer could not keep
from saying after the interview, “It’s is not clear who
the commander was speaking for.”

It should be noted that the UK has had many immigrants
for years not due to events in Syria or elsewhere in
the Mideast, but because of Britain’s worldwide colonial
role. As a result there have been large Indian,
Pakistani, black communities for a long, long time.

While Donald Trump has made some startling apparently
peace-like statements, it is far from clear what policies
he would champion as President. He would then be
the leading member of a party most of whose members
do not favor military restraint. Trump is unreliable and it must
be clear that it is far from clear how he would deal
with various issues if elected. (It is unfortunately
much clearer what policies Hillary Clinton would pursue
as she has made a purposefully distorted picture of her
record central to her “qualifications”: for the office.